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Hello

Greetings from Estonia.

I bought nearly a year ago Oly E-520 twin kit with FL-36R. The main reason for DSLR was to get some nice pics from my growing son. Why Olympus? Maybe cause have had couple of Oly compacts (realy liked C-350 until lost it, [mju:]600 was a bit disappointment thou but got used with it), maybe cause of good deal i got or maybe cause of a protest against other brand worshipers (actually the last reason was with C-350 also). Some people who were really skeptic about Oly, cause of what they have read from internet, have had to say that it aint that bad afterall.
Cause of 40-150 lens got very little use and one E-1 popped up in aftermarket nearby where i live, I own E-1 also. So I have E1 with tele and my wife uses 520 with wide lens and flash. I've learned that E1 and 520 are pretty different cameras. Having used E1 for some time then 520 feels small, weak and strange. Sometimes I miss some software extras, wide angle and flash on E1 but not enough to buy them.
Actually I have done my favorite pic so far with E1+14-42+FL-36R (i wonder what it would do with something better than with cheap kit lens).

Re: Hello

Hi Throt, and welcome.

You have an excellent system and seem to be enjoying it greatly. The E-1 is a force to be reckoned with even after all these years and I doubt there are many other DSLRs from that period which are held in the same high regard.

The kit lens you have is actually pretty good, one of the best in its class. The main advantage you get with, say, the 14-54 is slightly more tele range and faster apertures.

Re: Hello

Now there has some time passed. Can't comment about E520 more than my wife has shown some nice pictures she has made (haven't been home much since March). As for E1 in 5 months I have several times felt short of wide angle (only have 40-150 as mentioned before), couple of times brighter lens, external flash, IS and also thought about weathersealed lens oh yeah and a bigger memory card also (have 2GB and shoot 99% in raw).
Posted also the image made me wow @E1 also into the gallery it was one of the first pics I took with it. Could have probably made it a bit better cause I was still learning to use the camera but I was very satisfied with the result.
The other type of lens (brighter & wider), flash and memory card was missed in the carshow I visited (just noticed that could have got some reflecting images to the Mirror FTU saloon) couple of images from there are posted into gallery also Ana and Whiterod. But even there the camera surprised me. The first one was image quality with the kit lens in low light - it was supposed to be horrible but I found it ok, couldn't ask for more. And the other one was battery life. Forgot to charge the battery, previous owner told it would last about 150 images. I was taken already over 100 before. So pretty soon the battery warning light started to flash. I already thought now it's done but then I shoot 100 more pics and memory card was starting to get full so switched from RAW to JPG so shoot total over 150 pics with warning light on. When swithed to JPG then I understood what the reviews told about slow camera - it was half of the time busy getting the pics out of the buffer.
Weather sealing I've been missing in the rain couple of times but so far the nonsealed kitlens has performed nice. Actually not afraid about the lens as much as the water getting through the lens into body.

As for lenses I've been thought about 14-42, 50/2, 12-60 and 14-52
the first would be nice cheap one but don't see the bought justified cause somewhere I have one of thatkind, it's not that bright and has no weather sealing. 50mm is great but it also aint wide enough. 12-60 would be perfect but the price is a bit too much. So I'll probably get myself 14-52 one day... or stuck with the ones I have.
Damn expensive hobby and don't have much time to go around for just shooting

Re: Hello

As for still havent found justified getting 14-52 and 12-60 but would like something brighter i'll probably go for 25mm f2.8. Yeah it aint optically better than the current kit 14-42 but @25mm it's 2.8 vs 4.7 plus it don't cost that much. But then there is 35mm also that messes my mind.

25mm pros
- wider
- faster
cons
- IQ

35mm pros
- IQ
- 1:1 macro
cons
- longer
- 2/3 stops slower

Already made my mind before to get 25mm but now found the 35mm is even cheaper (6€ but still) - only bad thing is that i'm afraid it's a bit too long for inside shooting plus 2/3 stops disadvantage... probably should consult with my wife if she's gonna start using it or me

Re: Hello

In the end 35mm found the place in my camerabag. The decision was made cause 25mm don't give that much more and made also plans to start collecting for sigma 30mm 1.4 - that should be much better for indoors than 2.8.
As 35mm found it's place mostly @wifes camera (lol and I thought that if 25 then to her and 35 then to me) I was able to get the 14-42 to my E1

Re: Hello

Life has been crazy and haven't had much of the time to use the cameras.

I took out my E-520 one day and it started to make strange noise - AF system died
As it wasn't so big loss (E-1 does not have IS either) I just ignored it.
Shutter button had lost the intermediate position long time ago already.
After a month or two later I took it out again and it had terrible back focusing issue. I then realized that it's time to change the camera. I'd say it served well but weren't even close to the quality [mju:]600 has as this one has been a toy for my children for several years, it has lost some screws and got some cracks but it still works despite the heavy abuse it has had.
Anyways it was time for me and my wife to visit the photo shop. We decided to stay @ 4/3 as we have couple of accessories already. So it was either M5 mk2 or M10 eventually we went for size. It feels a bit small and couple of buttons in awkward place but hopefully I get used to it.